1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a remote control system for operating an electronic device, such as a Video Tape Recorder (VTR) or the like and, more particularly, to a remote controller that can display the operating state of the electronic device being controlled.
2. Description of the Background
A remote controller or remote commander is typically used to remotely operate a VTR. In a conventional remote commander, keys are assigned in accordance with individual operations. When a key on the remote commander is pressed, the corresponding command signal is transmitted from the remote commander to the VTR main unit and the VTR main unit receives the command signal. When the VTR main unit receives the command signal from the remote commander, the operation of the VTR main unit is set in accordance with the command signal transmitted from the remote commander.
In the conventional remote commander, a command signal is unidirectionally transmitted from a remote commander to the VTR main unit. Thus, on the remote commander side, the user neither checks the operational state of the VTR main unit nor physically sets the operation thereof.
For example, the user may want to check and change a timer setting state of the VTR main unit, however, in the conventional remote commander, since the signal is unidirectionally transmitted from the remote commander to the VTR main unit, the timer setting state of the VTR main unit cannot be transmitted to the remote commander. Thus, the user cannot check the timer setting state of the VTR main unit on the remote commander side.
In the conventional remote commander, the signal is unidirectionally transmitted, so that information such as the remaining amount of tape and the record time can not be transmitted from the VTR main unit to the remote commander, and the user cannot check such status on the remote commander side.